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Recordings

This is a most welcome reissue for a legendary artist—the British countertenor James Bowman singing at the height of his powers. In this much-praised recording, Bowman is joined by The King’s Consort to perform a selection of Handel’s best-loved o ...» More

This collection demonstrates the variety and brilliance of Handel’s writing for the bass voice, with arias from Italian and English operas, English classical drama, Biblical oratorios, literary odes and a masque. Christopher Purves gives an extrao ...» More

We are roused by the roaring ‘Sibilar gli angui d’Aletto’ (Rinaldo, first performed in London in 1711). This is the first entrance of the villainous Argante, infidel King of Jerusalem, who disturbs the contemplative reverie of the Christian crusader heroes. The calm Eustazio has only just finished singing a wise text about the wheel of fortune spinning and the importance of virtuous constancy, when Argante bursts in to parley with the enemy in gloriously bellicose music including trumpets and drums. His manic declaration that he seems to hear ‘The hissing of Alecto’s serpents / And the howling of voracious Scylla’ makes little sense because the text and musical essence of the aria are borrowed from the brutish Polifemo’s arrival in Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, but notwithstanding the text’s peculiar irrelevance in Rinaldo, the musical impact offers a subtext that fits: Argante is a cocky bully who wants to intimidate his besiegers, but in the event he appears ridiculous, much like a strutting peacock preening his feathers.

Handel’s writing in Rinaldo for Nicolini was as varied as it could possibly have been. Alongside virtuoso numbers such as ‘Or la tromba’ and ‘Venti turbini’ came the exquisitely tender 'Cara sposa'; Hawkins reported ‘the author would frequently say that it was one of the best he ever made’. During Act 1 Armida abducts Almirena (an action represented by the short opening Sinfonia included in this recording) and Rinaldo sings of his desolation in one of Handel’s most moving and memorable arias. However, the hero’s fighting spirit has not totally deserted him, and in the middle section we hear some of the strength of character that finally ensures good triumphs over evil.

Rinaldo was Handel’s first London triumph. He was not unknown in the capital, but this opera established him head and shoulders above his competitors. The young theatre manager Aaron Hill had moved from Drury Lane to the Queen’s Theatre in the Haymarket when the house obtained a monopoly for opera productions and he drafted an outline libretto for the theatre’s librettist, Rossi. Rossi worked with great speed, but Handel worked even faster and ‘scarcely gave me time to write … I saw an entire Opera put to music by that surprising genius … in only two weeks’. The composer actually re-used fifteen numbers from earlier works, but nonetheless his speed was remarkable. When the opera opened on 24 February 1711 it proved to be the success of the season, with the reviews unanimous in their praise of the music and the singing, especially of the great castrato Nicolini, for whom Handel wrote entirely new music. The bravura aria 'Venti turbini', which ends the first Act and in which Rinaldo summons the elements to help him in his quest to reclaim his beloved, delighted the audience with its virtuoso writing for Nicolini. The splendid orchestral writing, with an opening in the manner of a concerto grosso, must also have thoroughly tested the virtuosity of the opera house’s solo violin and bassoon.

Armida: I’ll wage war, and conquer
with wrath him that offends me,
avenging the wrongs done to me.
To break down that pride of his,
which kindles a great fire in my breast
the gods themselves shall be on my side.

Rinaldo, Handel’s first opera for London, opened at the Queen’s Theatre on 24 February 1711. The scenario, based on Tasso’s epic poem La Gerusalemme liberata, was an attempt by the writer and impresario Aaron Hill to unite the episodic spectacle of the English semi-opera (such as Purcell’s King Arthur) with the formal design of Italian opera. Giacomo Rossi wrote the libretto on Hill’s model. The story is a fantasy version of the first crusade, in which the Christian armies under Godfrey of Bouillon release Jerusalem from Saracen occupation, despite the efforts of the sorceress Armida to lure away the Christian knight Rinaldo and kidnap Godfrey’s daughter Almirena. Armida is both the ally and the lover of the Saracen king Argantes, and in Act 2 her jealousy is aroused by Argantes’ attempts to seduce Almirena. She threatens him with vengeance in the aria ‘Vo’ far guerra’, in which the harpsichord player (originally Handel himself, of course) is instructed to improvise at certain points. The harpsichord solos played here are based on a version of the aria published shortly after first performance as containing ‘the Harpsichord piece perform’d by Mr Hendel’.

The staging of Rinaldo in the Haymarket Theatre in 1711 was lavish, full of special effects: ‘The Opera of Rinaldo is filled with Thunder and Lightning, Illuminations, and Fireworks; which the audience may look upon without catching Cold, and indeed without much Danger of being burnt; for there are several Engines filled with Water, and ready to play at a Minute’s Warning, in case any such Accident should happen … I hope he has been wise enough to insure his House … ’ The special effects which caused such concern to Addison, writing in The Spectator, were brought to a climax in Act 3. Accompanied by an extravagant orchestra containing no fewer than four trumpets, Rinaldo leads his forces into battle against the evil sorceress Armida and her general Argante with the splendidly warlike 'Or la tromba'. The battle is immediately fought, on stage, to the rousing music of the 'Battaglia'.

Rinaldo was the first opera Handel wrote for London, and he was out to impress, re-using some of the best music from his Italian period and setting a libretto by Aaron Hill drawn from Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata that gave many opportunities for stage spectacle. It was a huge success, and much revived in the composer’s lifetime. It also introduced Armida, the first of Handel’s sorceress power-women and forerunner of Melissa, Medea and Alcina. Inevitably, this Syrian enchantress falls in love with her intended victim, the crusader knight Rinaldo, and in ‘Ah, crudel’ prays that he take pity on her, with bassoon adding its own air of aching melancholy. The fast and furious middle section gives due warning of Rinaldo’s fate should he remain obdurate.